ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — An infield fly and interference call loomed large in a game for the second time in less than a week.
This time it was the New York Yankees and Juan Soto.
The Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs in the first inning Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels when they were done in by an unconventional double play.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a high popup near the bag at second. Umpires called an infield fly, but Soto bumped into Angels shortstop Zach Neto with his hip as he tried to get back to second base, causing Neto to lose track of the ball and it landing in the infield.
Second base umpire Vic Carapazza ruled that Soto interfered with Neto, leading to the second out.
Manager Aaron Boone came out to argue the call and was ejected by Carapazza. It is Boone’s third ejection of the season and 36th of his career.
Tyler Anderson and the Angels got out of the inning unscathed when Alex Verdugo grounded out.
Last Thursday in Chicago, umpires ruled White Sox designated hitter Andrew Vaughn interfered with Orioles’ shortstop Gunnar Henderson on a popup by Andrew Benintendi, ending the game, won by Baltimore 8-6.
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White Sox manager Pedro Grifol was prescient when he asked MLB to provide more clarity on interference plays.
“This is going to happen again,” he said. “I haven’t seen it in 30 years. But now that it happened, I guarantee you we’ll see it again because everybody around the league looks at situations like this to create some form of advantage for their club, to get a couple outs in a situation like this.”
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